The General Assembly decided this afternoon on new rules for the election of the 36 members of the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP).

The Fifth Committee today approved the work plan for a three-week resumed session that will let delegates consider a Capital Master Plan now running more than $80 million over budget, the work of the Joint Inspection Unit, special political missions and other issues with financial implications for the 2010-2011 budget cycle.

The United Nations Meeting on the Question of Palestine this afternoon turned its attention to the bleak situation and conditions of confinement for Palestinians in Israeli prisons and detention facilities, as it continued its examination of the urgent need to address the political prisoners’ plight.

The central role of the Palestinian political prisoners in the enduring Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominated discussion in today’s United Nations International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, as expert panellists shifted the discourse to the legal aspects of the arrests and detentions.

The notion that delivering security would ultimately yield a Palestinian State actually excluded Palestinians from the political process, the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine heard today as it concluded its work with an examination of the link between the political prisoners and the broader Israeli-Palestinian political process, and adoption of an outcome document.

To deliver on the singular promise of sustainable development and the gains made over the past 20 years in defining its three-pillared approach — linking economic development, social development, and environmental protection — the 2012 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development must shift the discussion from function to form, especially within the United Nations system, the Preparatory Committee for that meeting heard today as it concluded its second session.

Following are the closing remarks, as delivered by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, to the event organized by the United Nations Office for Partnerships, and the Business Civic Leadership Center, on “Investing in Women And Entrepreneurship: Solutions To Addressing MDG 3”, yesterday, 8 March, in New York:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the event marking the one-year anniversary of the Women’s Empowerment Principles in New York today, 9 March:

Scores of business leaders, along with representatives of Government and civil society, today shared their experiences in promoting women’s advancement through the Women’s Empowerment Principles at a United Nations meeting opened by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and closed by his Deputy, Asha-Rose Migiro.

Wrapping up its seven-day session with a final meeting that stretched into the early evening, the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization adopted, as orally revised, its 2011 report, containing recommendations directed to the General Assembly.